In February and July 2020, respectively, in Arbanassi and Bankya, two training events for police officers on the topic of hate crime were organized by the LGBTI youth organization "Action".
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs published a handbook entitled "Police Action in Hate Crimes against LGBTI People: Training for a Professional Police Response" which was developed under the project "Safe To Be" funded by the European Union's Rights, Equality and Citizenship Programme (2014-2020). The project has three goals: the first is related to publishing the handbook; the second entails developing a Handbook on Restorative Justice; and the third is to create a website for (and by) the LGBTI community offering an empowering counter-narrative for hate-based conflicts.
ODIHR recognizes Bulgaria's efforts to build the capacities of police in responding to hate crime. However, based on the available information, it observes that the law enforcement agencies of Bulgaria have not recorded the bias motivations behind. hate crimes. In addition, ODIHR observes that Bulgaria would benefit from reviewing its existing legal framework in order to ensure that bias motivation can be effectively acknowledged and appropriate penalties can be imposed on the perpetrators.
ODIHR recalls that in the Ministerial Council Decision 9/09, participating States have committed to promptly investigating hate crimes and ensuring that the motives of those convicted of hate crimes are acknowledged. To that end, the given law enforcement body or bodies must, first of all, record the bias motivation of hate crimes. Moreover, in the Ministerial Council Decision 9/09, participating States have also committed to enacting specific, tailored legislation to combat hate crimes, providing for effective penalties that take into account the gravity of such crimes. ODIHR stands ready to support Bulgaria in meeting the relevant commitments through the provision of comprehensive resources and tailored assistance in the area of hate crime recording and data collection, as well as further resources and tailored legislative advice.
In addition to incidents summarized below, this graph includes 2 hate incidents reported by Kantor Center as statistics.